“I lost, plain and simple,” Miocic told reporters, including MMAjunkie, during UFC 226’s post-event press conference. “There are no excuses. He was the better man tonight. … It sucks. Losing’s not fun at all. It sucks. But to put this in perspective, I look at it, and I’m going home right now. My beautiful wife is having my child. There are better things in life than losing.

“It sucks. I want to come back and get a rematch of course, but listen, right now, it’s ‘DC’s’ day. Good for him.”

“I think I was winning that fight,” he said. “I was wearing him down, held him against the cage. I was hitting him with some good shots. It was going back and forth, I was backing him up a lot more and he caught me with a right hand. It was a good shot. What are you going to do? It’s part of the game. Heavyweights. I say it all the time.”

“I’m going to go home,” Miocic said. “That’s all I care about right now. Listen, I know what you guys want to hear what’s next? Of course I want a rematch. There’s no question, but right now, I’ve got bigger fish to fry.